This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #128 (February/March 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
by Steve Winick
I know what longtime readers were thinking: The only reason I wrote about medieval German folk-rock in issue #123 (April/May 2006) was to get nerd beaks on the cover. Not so, I tell you! In addition to men with beaks, this scene features wolves, foxes, ravens, swans, owls, and other beasties, as well as songs about love, drink, and (of course) death. It really is a vital genre, with its own conventions, its own scene, and as rich a history as other areas under the folk-rock umbrella. Hence, another such column, discussing both the beauties and the beasts of medieval folk-rock!
The importance of this genre's history really became apparent to me when Bear Family, the German label known above all for its loving devotion to the history of popular music, reissued four albums by a foundational group for medieval rock, on two shiny new CDs. The band in question is Ougenweide (pictured above), undoubtedly the godparents of German medieval folk-rock. Ougenweide formed in 1971, toured Europe, released a spate of albums between 1973 and 1981, and managed to transform the West German folk scene before it disbanded in 1985. Each of these CDs, Ougenweide/All Die Weil Ich Mag [Bear Family BCD 16775 AH (2006)] and Ohrenschmaus/Eulenspiegel [Bear Family BCD 16779 (2006)], presents two of the group's early LP releases, providing a prehistory of today's scene as well a romp through 1970s Hamburg. Your English-speaking tour guide for this journey is Ken Hunt, who lived in Hamburg at the time and has penned historical liner notes setting Ougenweide's music in proper context.
As Hunt explains, the idea for German medieval rock was born when Olaf Casalich, a former student of Middle High German, as well as a musician, attended a rehearsal of Frank Wulff's as-yet-unnamed band, which was inspired by U.K. folk-rock groups Fairport Convention and Pentangle. The concept of "folksong" had developed political connotations on the German scene, from 19th-century Romantic nationalism to Nazism and beyond. Sidestepping that whole can of worms, Casalich instead took a Middle High German lyric and added music. The result of this launched not only Ougenweide, but the whole genre of "Mittelalter-Rock," which has developed (with input from many others) into today's thriving scene. Both CDs by Ougenweide feature excellent singing and playing on a wide variety of instruments, and both are highly recommended introductions to the genre.
Other artists profiled in this article:
This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #128 (February/March 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
![[cover #128]](/linen/128/cover128t.jpg)
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